High Impact Volunteering

Volunteers are placed in our partner schools in groups of three or four. Each morning volunteers and our mentoring team are dropped off at their schools and each afternoon they are collected. Volunteers teach English, Maths, PE and IT as well as working on our HIV awareness outreach projects in partnership with one of our partner NGO's "Mend the Broken Hearts of Uganda". Placements are flexible and we aim to enable volunteers to work to their own strengths; no subjects are compulsory. While most volunteers are placed in primary schools we facilitate secondary school placement for volunteers who would prefer to work with older classes. All subjects are taught in english and volunteers receive guidance from their placement schools as to what content to cover in lessons.

Induction, Training and Support

For most volunteers, Volunteer Uganda will be their first experience of teaching. Unlike volunteers with most teaching abroad schemes, Volunteer Uganda volunteers receive comprehensive training. During the first week volunteers complete our certificated in country "Limited Resource Teacher Training"(LRTT). LRTT is highly progressive by international standards and was created in partnership with a team of teachers from UK education charity "Teach First". The course gives you an understanding of learning theory and builds your confidence as a foundation. From there LRTT equips you with a toolkit of strategies and activities that allow you to teach in a fun and effective way in the rural African classroom. In summer 2011 we delivered a variation of our own LRTT course to 40 Ugandan teachers, so as to enhance teaching throughout the region.

Beyond the LRTT course held in the first week, volunteers receive mentoring and ongoing support throughout from our dedicated team. This maximizes the impact of volunteers and ensures the program is safe and memorable. The induction week also includes orientation and an introduction to local language lessons given by our Ugandan team.

Following induction and LRTT, volunteers are allocated to their schools. They will be supported and guided in what to teach by their in school volunteer co-ordinator. Our experienced team of Uganda staff and british team leaders live on site at the VU lodge alongside the volunteers so there is always support and advice available.

What will I be teaching?

Volunteers teach English, Maths, Science, and PE. You are not expected to teach all of these subjects and different schools have different needs. We place people in a school that will make the most of their strengths and interests. Each day you teach three lessons, one before break, 1 after break and 1 after lunch. Volunteers also team teach in each other's lessons which brings down teacher to student ratio thus allowing for more personalized teaching. Beyond the school day, volunteers can get involved in everything from introducing sport, art, dance and music. If you have a passion or an idea of something you would like to make happen, our team will give you all the support they can in bringing it to fruition.

Our partners have recently installed ten computers and a constant broadband connection at the college, so there is a need to demonstrate basic IT skills to students and lecturers alike. There is an almost total lack of IT skills in rural Uganda and the college is yet to find IT teaching staff. This is entirely optional but some volunteers find it very rewarding.

Different people have different preferences, qualifications, strengths and weaknesses and when allocating our volunteers to positions, we will take this into account when both arranging time table and placing people in the different schools. Generally the content to be taught is not challenging and we work from the curriculum. The challenge is bringing it alive and being a highly effective and inspirational teacher. People in developed countries have had the luxury of great education and Volunteer Uganda gives them the chance to share it with the less fortunate.

Local Language?

All of the teaching done at the schools is done in English and the level of pupils is reasonable. It is not necessary for you to learn the local language but picking up some of the basics is valuable and enriches the experience of visiting rural Africa. During the first week our team give local language lessons including basic greetings, phrases, numbers etc. This is followed up by optional weekly lessons over the next month.

Any practical work?

We are always keen to assist our partner schools in improving their facilities. Many volunteers fundraise towards their placement schools and like to get their hands dirty with the work once its underway after the school day. This can be anything from decorating dormitories & classrooms, clearing sports fields and equipping schools with mosquito nets.